The Great Escape (from reality)

When the world is on fire, it’s only natural to climb aboard your metaphorical motorcycle and jump a fence to the sweet freedom of fantasy.

Escapism is an increasingly popular means of managing, or at least avoiding, the multifaceted existential dread of 2025.

There’s no shortage of means to tune out. Romance fiction is enjoying a comeback both in Australia and in the UK, where Saucy Books, a new store for fans of literary smut, has opened just down the road from Hugh Grant’s fictional workplace in Notting Hill.

Some are going even further than suggestive literature. 

School teacher Matthew Stewart, for example, escapes his day job by embodying an extravagant persona as a pro-wrestler called 'Big Fudge’. Davide (surname presumably intentionally withheld) has been a Live Action Role Player for 21 years. 

Brands are, of course, jumping on board. A Canadian study presents examples from Coca-Cola, Apple, Gucci, and Burberry. This year’s Super Bowl ads leaned heavily into escapism. And Vogue cites a shift away from authenticity and relatability to fantasy and world-building in modern marketing.

It turns out the reason is to reach that holy grail of communication - emotional resonance. That same Canadian study points out that “fantastical branding shifts consumers’ focus from immediate utility to…identity and imagination.”

This is a powerful tool, but it needs to be used in moderation. Offering audiences a much-needed escape from the everyday can spark a passionate reaction, but without the nuts and bolts of rationality to sit alongside it, that spark is likely to fizzle.

Finding the perfect balance between the weird and wonderful and the tried and tested is, as ever, the challenge for every communicator.

But if you need a diversion from that, Eclipsed Empire (The Wolves of Crescent Creek) is out this week and just $8 on Kindle. It looks awful, but is at least more advisable than the form of ‘escapism’ chosen by a certain former SA Liberal leader.